Question: Did the script have any surprises or anything in it that you are really excited for?
Richelle: What’s surprising about the script was how true it is to the book. As an author, when you sell your options and you turn it over to a screenwriter, you never know what is going to happen. I was blown away with how the script not only follows all the main beats of the book, but all the pivotal scenes are there. It just really gets the spirit that I try and convey in my books. My books are always this mix of one part humor and another part that you have this deep emotional component and then there is action running through it. And all of that is there. Daniel Waters, who was the screenwriter for Heathers, is the one that wrote this script and he just nailed all of that. He got all of that. He understood what I was trying to do. He understands the characters. I was just kind of amazed. I remember when I finished, I looked up at my husband and was like, “We got this. Look what they did. It’s amazing.”
Question: Could you talk a little bit about the whole vibe of the movie. Mark Waters directed Mean Girls. Is it going to have that same sort of vibe or is it going to be different than that?
Richelle: It’s got, I mean, Mean Girls… it’s got some of that humor in it and that’s also reflected in the script, you know, that his brother Daniel wrote. But they both have that dark humor going on. It must run in the family. But I wouldn’t say it’s a comedy. I wouldn’t say its irreverent, like oh, haha, slapstick. It’s kinda what I said earlier, it goes a lot of different ways. It’s got those moments where you do crack up, because somebody, usually Rose, says something so ridiculous. And then something in the next scene makes your heart just stop ’cause there is just something emotionally ground breaking going on. And in the next scene you know its staking vampires and whatever. There is some of that for sure but I think that Mean Girls was more comedy in its ratio. I guess. It had its emotional components as well. But for people who like that sense of humor, they are going to like that because they will see pieces of that in this.
Question: I have a question about Rose in particular. You have chosen to have her kind of own her sexuality more then you see in most YA books, and we were just wondering if you got any push back on that? Or if that was kind of hard to sell in the beginning?
Richelle: Not so much really. I’m trying to…I am having to think now. There was none from my publisher, and I never heard much from readers either having a problem with that. I think that a lot of people like how in control she is. And even in regards to sex, it’s not callous or something she necessarily treats lightly. I think that’s what’s key. It’s not someone who gets used or isn’t thoughtful about her sexuality. She very much is, and I think that’s the important part of being strong about it is being decisive and knowing what you will do and what you won’t do. And I think that was the most important piece to care about with that.
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